Sunday, 28 February 2010

Rachel Corrie was 23 years old when she was killed by an Israeli bulldozer in the Gaza Strip. The young, idealistic American peace activist, who left her home in Olympia, Washington, in 2003 to travel to the Middle East with the International Solidarity Movement (ISM), was attempting to prevent the demolition of Palestinian homes.

The events around her death are disputed to this day. It was reported this week that, seven years after Corrie died, her family is to bring a civil lawsuit over her death against the Israeli defence ministry.

But Corrie left an insight into her character in her diaries, which have been adapted for the stage by the British actor Alan Rickman and Katharine Viner, the deputy editor of The Guardian. This one-woman show, performed by Mairi Phillips, the Citizens Theatre actor intern, depicts a shy, skinny, chain-smoking and articulate woman who was committed to non-violent protest against Israeli policy in the disputed territory of the Middle East.